A luxury ride on your fingertips – We try out UberLux in London

With a smartphone or smart device with internet access, your ride home is always a swift few minutes away. Say goodbye to occupied minicab offices, relentlessly having to wait and wave your arms at bypassing taxis, and those lengthy trips on London’s gritty night-busses.
A few taps on my iPad, and I was able to find a fare estimate (although it wasn’t as accurate as I had hoped) and call an Uber Lux, one of the four categories of possible car pickups- each suited to the occasion. Although you don’t have a choice of the exact car, an Uber Lux call will offer you one of three highly respectable cars: A Mercedes-Benz S-Class, an Audi A8 or a BMW 7-Series. All of which are blacked out, so that you can arrive in the style of a diplomat.

Uber’s other services are for basic pickups, where the car is not of any significance to you, and the fare charges (by hourly rate) are cheaper than other chauffeur service or minicab office in the capital. This is causing quite the political stir with the traditional blackcap operators now.

As one would expect with a premium chauffeur service, the car is spacious, you are free to dictate your musical preferences (as well as link your spotify account to the car), the drivers are always smartly dressed and are very polite.

The application is very convenient, and well-designed, with constructive features such as driver ratings, feedback and reviews. It also has a map of the local area, which uses the GPS technology at its disposal. It plots exactly where your prospective driver is in relation to the pickup point. There is always, I have noticed, a driver nearby. This is not incidental. Uber designate drivers to specific areas, so that an area is never empty. The drivers simply cruise around until they receive a work alert.

Overall, I was satisfied with the service and I will continue to utilize it. A smooth, and somewhat rapid ride- considering the nature of the Central London traffic. The pricing of the journey, I feel, was fair and highly competitive when you factor in that you are receiving a private chauffeur service and a polished BMW 7-series, but it is imperative that you account for the traffic and closures. It is undeniable that Uber has become a serious competitor in this sector, with claims £3 Billion of Britons’ money annually.

At Luxury Launches, we are proud to offer you a festive treat to help you get around this winter season. Collaborating with Uber, we’re bringing each and every one of our readers a promo that will give you £20 worth of Uber credit for free.

Simply download the app on any smart device and enter the promotion code Luxurylaunches when you sign up.